Originally, Big Hit was going to make BTS into a 100% rap/hip hop crew and the lineup was going to look a LOT different.

Before the vocal line was recruited, before the idea of ~idols~ were thrown around, Suga, J-Hope, and Rap Monster were going to be in a rap crew focused on the hip hop scene in Korea with no plans to break into the idol/kpop industry.

Other members included:

1. i11evn

Good thing for BTS that he left, he was busted for possesion of marijuana in 2016.

2. Kidoh

Also busted for marijuana :/

3. Iron

Busted for marijuana (same time as kidoh) as well as physical abuse of his girlfriend :/

4. Supreme Boi

He didn't debut but still works for Big Hit as a producer! He's worked on a lot of BTS tracks :)

5. Loco

He didn't pass the audition if you can believe it!

Basick and Beenzino were offered positions but declined. Boy Republic's Suwoong and Topp Dogg's Atom were also trainees at Big Hit.

So what happened? Well, Kpop happened.

Big Hit decided they wanted to go in a more mainstream direction and the other members weren't cool with that. Other than the 3 current BTS members, the other guys left to pursue their rap careers.

Big Hit added Jin, V, Jungkook, and Jimin and started to morph BTS into a hip-hop meets kpop idol group.

If you were a fan from day one, you know that BTS' debut was pretty hard core compared to other groups. Now its common to see hip hop and rap in Kpop but at the time of their debut they were pretty unique and rougher than what Kpop was used to.